A boutique investment firm focused on venture capital recently announced the closing of its first fund at $50 million. Investors included A.O. Smith Corp., Baird, Exact Sciences Corp., Johnson Financial Group and West Bend Insurance.
Milwaukee- and Madison-based NVNG Investment Advisors LLC invests in VC funds nationwide. With major Wisconsin corporations as limited partners, its model is designed to connect local companies with VC investors and startups.
"There is no reason that Wisconsin can’t have a thriving venture capital ecosystem," NVNG managing director Carrie Thome said in a statement. "We are confident that we have the right national network connections that the state has been missing."
NVNG held an initial fund close in late 2021 after raising nearly $41 million. Since then, an early corporate investor increased its commitment, A.O. Smith joined as another investor and a few new individual investors joined the fund, NVNG managing director Grady Buchanan said.
Madison-based Exact Sciences was among NVNG's early investors. Exact Sciences chairman and CEO Kevin Conroy said in a statement that the firm's focus on connecting Wisconsin's innovation ecosystem to a national network of entrepreneurs and venture capital will help fuel the state's economic growth.
NVNG has already invested in at least 13 VC funds to date, including Baird Capital, the Idea Fund of La Crosse, and Hyde Park Venture Partners and M25, both in Chicago. It also made a direct investment in Fiveable, a Milwaukee-based education startup.
Before starting NVNG, Thome was the chief investment officer at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), where she oversaw the management of a $3 billion investment portfolio.
NVNG was a winner of Wisconsin Inno's 2023 Fire Awards, recognized for hosting an event in the fall of 2023 that brought nearly 100 venture capitalists to Milwaukee from across the country.
